Allen Schroeder brings delicious food to Casa Marianella every Saturday morning. We are so grateful for his dedication and thoughtfulness. Allen writes about his experiences interacting with residents the process of food recovery:

I love bringing recovery food to Casa Marianella on Saturday mornings. There’s usually music playing on someone’s phone and a nice aroma is coming from the the kitchen as breakfast is in progress. Half a dozen or more people are milling around getting their day started. But everyone stops to help me unload my SUV.

Spreading a Saturday’s produce offering on the picnic tables outside and having folks look it over and start eating portions of it is very gratifying. Usually the bananas, mangos and melons are admired first. Some slurping ensues. Apparently tomatoes onions and garlic are highly desired as some of them are heading into the kitchen immediately. Some folks follow the sweets into the building where I swap out the previous weeks empty pastry containers for a couple fresh ones full to the top with muffins, brownies, cakes, scones and donuts. The deli food goes straight into the big double door fridge as does the dairy and meat. One or two big bags of bread goods are brought in as well. Back outside one or two helpful clients of the non-profit house help me sort through the 8 boxes of assorted produce and get it looking presentable. The food is coming from two sources: Wheatsville Food Co-op and Fresh Plus Grocers. I’ve been doing food recovery for 9 years now amounting now to 2,500 pounds of food a week and its been a real pleasure bringing a portion of it to Casa Marianella.